Before I Met You
by Extreme Light 9
Summary: An exiled man with the ability to speak to monsters comes across an injured beast and they both find something they were longing for.


**Before I Met You**

 **A/N: I've been so busy studying with exams for the past two weeks, but I have some free time now so have this feels-y one-shot.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own The Last Guardian.**

 **XXXXXXXX**

Somewhere deep in a forest, a middle-aged man was walking through the thick trees. He had a thick beard and messy black hair. The color of his attire was red and grey. He carried nothing more than leather satchel and a spear, a tired look in his eyes.

His name Tomiheanchu and some of his friends call him Tomi for short.

Or at least they used to.

Face hardening, the man tried to push the bleak thoughts out of his mind and focus on getting back to his cave. His feet were quite sore after walking for so long so he decided to sit down on a log and rest for a while. Glancing up to the sky, he frowned at the sight of dark clouds. It will rain sometime soon. He had to hurry.

Tomi lifted his sore foot and began massaging it lightly, letting out a sigh.

"Help…."

The man froze up and glanced around in confusion. Did he imagine that? He waited and listened quietly. For a moment there was nothing but the sound of wildlife around him, but then he heard it, soft and weak.

"….help me…"

Tomi quickly sat up and picked his spear from the ground, looking around for the source of the sound. "Hello?" he called out as he walked warily to where the sound was coming from.

Pushing the branches away, the man stiffed at the sight before him. There, in the middle of the clearing, was a large creature lying in the grass. Its body was covered entirely in feathers, but they were disheveled and covered in blood. Four spears were stuck into his back while his legs and wings were tied with ropes.

Cautiously, the man slowly stepped closer to the beast, his grip on his spear tightening ever so slightly.

At the sound of his footsteps, the creature cracked a violet eye open at him and the man stiffened. The two stared at each other in stunned silence for a moment until finally the silence was broken.

"Stay back!" the beast snarled, struggling against the binds. His voice was deep and strong.

The man yelped and staggered back a little.

"Go away!"

Tomi scowled and snapped. "Hey, you're the one who was calling for help!"

The beast froze up and tilted his head in confusion. "You….you can understand me?"

Tomi slapped his hand over his mouth and looked away, realizing his mistake.

"How? How are you doing this?" the beast asked, eyeing as if he was the most interesting thing he had ever seen.

The man glared at him. "What does it matter? Do you want me to help you out or not?" he snapped impatiently.

The beast's ears flattered in hesitation and looked between him and the spear before finally laying down. "Alright,"

The man slowly approached the beast and after a bit of uncertainty, he spoke up. "I'm going to remove the spears. Stay still."

Reaching out for the first one on his shoulder, the man grabbed a hold of the spear and began pulling it. Once it came out, the beast let a soft whine. Sighing, Tomi moved to the other three.

After removing them all, he glanced down at the thick ropes. After mulling over this, he picked up his own spear and the beast's eyes widened. "W-what are you doing?"

"Calm down. I'm just going to use it to cut down the ropes," he said as he stepped closer to him. He could see the creature's muscles tense up with his eyes fixed on the pointy weapon, but he didn't try to escape.

Soon enough, he managed to cut them all. He quickly backed away as the creature rose up on his legs and shook himself violently, several stained feathers scattering all over the place. "Thank you," the beast after a moment of hesitation only to find himself alone in the clearing.

The man was gone.

 **XXXXXXXXX**

Tomi sighed as he leaned against the cave wall, staring blankly at the fire. Why did he free that beast? He had no idea what drove him to do it. How could he know for sure that the beast wasn't tied for a good reason? What if he just free a dangerous monster and it could be out for blood right now?

He grimaced at the though and shook his head. Maybe it was the fact that it reminded him of his pet dog back at the village.

Well, it didn't matter anymore. What was done was done. Pocking the fire with a stick in boredom, a soft rumble came from his stomach.

He sighed again and reached into his satchel, pulling out some red berries from there. He couldn't find any animals to hunt today so he was glad that he found that bush at the very least.

As he munched onto some, a sound suddenly reached his ears. He glanced at the cave entrance to the dark where it was coming from. It sounded like footsteps and someone panting.

He quickly reached for his spear and tensed up, preparing himself for the worst. This wasn't the first time he encountered a threat. The wilderness was filled with bandits and monsters after all.

A pair of glowing eyes stared at him from the darkness before the thing stepped into the cave and revealed itself.

"You?" Tomi muttered in surprise, not expecting to see the creature he saved earlier today again. His face then hardened. "Why did you follow me?"

The beast stepped forward and Tomi tense up, trying to hide the panic he was feeling. Of course the monster would come after him. He was an idiot. He shouldn't have freed it!

If the creature decided to attack him then he was doomed. There was no way he could survive a fight against a monster so huge. He could feel his heart pounded loudly against his chest as the creature stepped closer and closer toward him.

The beast then bent his neck down and dropped something on the ground. It was a dead deer. Blinking, Tomi looked up at the beast in confusion.

"It's for saving me earlier," the beast said.

The man blinked in surprise then huffed and turned his gaze to the fire. "Alright, now leave."

"I can't," the beast turned his gaze away to the entrance. "I can smell it. It's going to rain soon."

Tomi gritted his teeth and opened his mouth, but then closed it shut. It would be cruel to send the creature into the storm like that.

"Fine, just don't try anything," he said warningly.

"Thank you," the beast then lay down on the ground on his forepaws.

Tomi didn't respond and tried to ignore the other's presence. The two stayed in silence for a while as the rain finally began falling outside.

"Human?"

"What?" Tomi frowned.

"You have not answered me earlier. How can you understand what I'm saying? I have never met a human like you before," The beast said, tilting his head at him as if he could see what made him different if he looked hard enough.

Tomi scowled. "That's none of your concern."

"But-"

"I said stop asking!" the man snapped, causing the beast to fall silent. There was nothing but the sound of cackling fire for several minutes until Tomi realized something.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Hiding from the rain?" the beast answered, confused.

"No, I mean what are you doing in this forest? Your kind lives far in the north," Tomi stated in frustration.

The beast sighed and turned to gaze at the fire. "I was separated from my pack. We were drinking by a lake when a large group of monster hunters attacked us. One of their weapons damaged my wing," the beast said, raising his wing to show the damage. "While they all flew away, I couldn't fly after them and could only flee. They spent a long time tracking me down until they finally caught me. I don't know where they went after that, but it was around that time you came and freed me."

The man blinked and a frown set across his face. He could tell the beast missed being with his kind, but he can't find them.

"I…I was born like this."

The creature turned to stare at the man in surprise.

"When I was a little boy, my friends and I were playing near the forest. I then heard someone talking somewhere and when I looked up, I saw a large bird with a horn standing on a branch. I was able to understand everything it was telling me. I think it said we were disturbing its sleep," The man chuckled at the memory, though his gaze remained blank. "It was then we realized that I could speak to monsters and beasts. The villagers were shocked and even worried about me because of this strange curse. They made sure I stayed away from the forest and never talked to any beasts. They said they would poison my mind with their lies."

"That is not true," the beast muttered, looking slightly offended by that. The man didn't reply, but his face grew harder at the next part.

"About a year ago, a beast came to our village."

"Was it one of my kind?" the creature asked immediately, hope shining in his eyes.

Tomi shook his head. "No, it was a chimera." He said and the beast's face fell in disappointment. "The monster came in the middle of night and attack several people. Two men nearly died from injuries."

The man's voice grew harsher with every word. "When they managed to drive the beast away, everyone thought it was me who called it to the village. I was exiled from my home and told to never come back. Because of monsters, I've lost everything."

"Wait, how this is our fault?" the beast asked.

The man stood right up and glared at him furiously. "How!? If it weren't for this curse, if you beasts weren't wandering these lands then I would have had a normal life. I wouldn't have been separated from wife and children, I would still have a home to go back to! It's all your fault that I've have nothing now!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, voice thick with anger and grief. "I can't even go live in another village because I don't know how they'll react if they found out about my curse!"

The beast stared at him in stunned silence and then looked down for a moment. "They should have trusted you better."

"What?"

"You lived with those humans for many years. They should have known you wouldn't truly do something like that to them. While some of them might have cared about you, the rest of them never truly trusted you," The beast explained.

Tomi didn't know what to say at this and then sat down again, hugging his knees. "Even if what you're saying is true, what good would it do to me now? I still can't go back. I've been wandering this land feeling lost for so long. I don't know what to do anymore….."

The beast gazed at the cave floor for a while in thought for a minute. "You said you were feeling lost ever since you left your village. Well, ever since I was separated from my pack, I felt lost and empty too."

He then glanced at the human. "Do you think if two lost creatures stuck together…they might their way back?" He asked.

Tomi blinked as his mind processed this and then glanced at the beast, not knowing what to say.

 _ **Six months later**_

"Trico, hurry up!" Tomi shouted, gripping onto Trico's feathers as the beast sprinted through the forest. He looked up and frowned in frustration when he saw branches were covering view of the sky.

"I'm trying!" Trico called back, moving through the trees as fast as he could.

Finally, the two made it out of the forest to some grassy fields. It was almost sunset and the sky was a bright orange and pink.

"There they are!" Tomi suddenly called, pointing at the sky where several tricunos were flying. Trico roared as loud as he could, catching their attention and causing them to fly down.

"Yes!" Tomi cheered on his friend's back as they watched the beasts descend towards them, instantly recognizing their lost member.

" _I never told you this before, but….I'm glad I met you…."_

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **A/N: Thanks for reading. I didn't want to end the fic on a sad note. Tomi may have lost his human family and friends, but he found a place for himself with the beasts he resented for so long. I hope you enjoyed this. :)**


End file.
